Combat
Definition of Terms * Action – What a character does when it is their Turn during a combat Round. * Initiative – A measure of how quickly a given character reacts compared to other participants in combat. * Round – A unit of time, 3 to 10 seconds in length, during which all participants in combat have an opportunity to take Actions. * Turn – The opportunity for an individual character to take Actions during a combat Round. Under normal circumstances, every participant in combat has one Turn, which takes place on their Initiative. Sequence of Events A combat Round unfolds in the following stages: * Stage 1: Initiative – An Initiative Roll is made at the beginning of every round of combat. The result of this roll, called the Initiative Score, determines the order in which all characters will act. * Stage 2: Stance - The characters with the lowest initiative this round must select their Stance first, then the second lowest and so forth. The character with the highest initiative roll gets a tactical advantage of getting to choose his Stance last. * Stage 3: Turns – The bulk of a combat Round involves each individual participant taking their Turn. When this stage begins, the character with the highest Initiative Score takes their Turn first, and may take any legal Action. A character may choose to delay taking their Turn, and instead allow the character with the next highest Initiative Score to take their Turn. After that, the character who delayed their Turn has the chance to take it or delay again, and so on. If every participant Delays their Turn, then the participant with the lowest initiative score is reached he must take his Turn, then the Round ends. * Stage 4: Reactions – Combat is fluid and dynamic and sometimes an event occurs that trigger a Reaction. A Reaction is an action a character may perform when the set conditions apply. A common Reaction is the Parry Maneuver's opposed roll to thwart an enemy's attack. Initiative The Initiative roll is dependent on Perception and Reflexes. You roll the highest of the two and keep the lowest. So, if a character has Perception 3 and Reflexes 4, that character would roll 4k3. Conditions and effects from previous rounds may affect subsequent Initiative rolls. Stances A character’s Stance determines what actions they may or may not take during their Turn in a combat Round. Stances reflect the basic postures that you take for combat. During combat Stage 2 character choose their Stance. The next time Stage 2 comes up they can choose a new Stance. The Stances a character may adopt are as follows: * Attack – Attack is the standard Stance adopted by most warriors in a combat situation, and is linked to Water in that it is fluid and versatile. A character in the Attack Stance has no restrictions on the kind of actions he may take. * Full Attack – Full Attack is linked to Fire, raging and consuming all in its path. A character in the Full Attack Stance gains +2k0 to his Attack Rolls. However the character may not add Reflexes x 5 to his Armor TN nor Reflexes to Defense rolls. A character in the Full Attack Stance gets a free Raise on the Charge Maneuver. * Defense – Defense is linked to Air, adaptable and reactive. Characters in the Defense Stance has two additional Reflex multipliers to ATN. However, TN's on all other rolls this turn is increased by +15. * Full Defense – The Full Defense Stance is linked to Earth, reserved, unmoving, and unassailable. Upon declaring his Stance, a character in the Full Defense Stance gains Reduction equal to their Defensive Skill. They also receive two additional Reflex multipliers to ATN. TN's on all other rolls this turn are increased by +30 and all movement is reduced to Short Range (See below). * Focus – The Focus Stance is linked to Fate. You may spend your Turn focusing on the perfect attack. Each Turn you spend Focusing you gain a Free Raise on your next roll. You may Focus for a number of Turns equal to your Fate Link. If you plan on attacking, you and your target can not move at any time during this Stance or all bonuses are lost. Attack & Defense Any attack a character makes against an opponent requires a roll, typically a Skill Roll that includes a Weapon Skill as one of its components. Attacks may be melee or ranged in nature, depending upon the weapon being used. These rolls are made using the rules included for Skill Rolls above, and the result of an attack roll is compared to the opponent’s Armor TN. All characters have an Armor TN that is calculated by multiplying their Reflexes Trait by 5. Other bonuses include those granted from Stances, Techniques or from the character wearing armor, using shields of some kind. If the result of the attack roll meets or exceeds the target’s Armor TN, then the attack was successful and the opponent was struck with the weapon in question. Damage must now be rolled. Reflex x 5 + Armor = Armor TN Penalties or bonuses may be applied to attack rolls for a variety of reasons. The most obvious and frequent penalty is for being injured. Additional bonuses and penalties are discussed under Stances and Status Effects, and the GM can apply bonuses or penalties based on specific circumstances (a character trying to attack while balancing on a railing would probably suffer a penalty, for example). Reduction and Resistance Various situations give a character, or an enemy increased amounts of defense. Usually, this is portrayed with Reduction and/or Resistance. Reduction comes from impenetrable armor or deflective actions. This value determines which dice rolls you must drop. If you have Reduction 2 all attack rolls against you must discard dice rolls of 1 and 2. Resistance is the passive toughness of an object or character. Resistance uses the Reduction value but works a little different. If you have Resistance 2 all damage rolls against you must discard rolls of 1 and 2. Reduction and Resistance may apply to all types of attacks and damage or only certain types. A fire spirit might have exclusive Resistance against fire damage and a gelatinous cube might have exclusive Reduction against weapon damage. Cushion A Cushion rating is a value that you subtract from the damage you take. If you have Cushion 3 and take 6 damage, you only take 3 damage after Cushion has been taken into account. If you hit a character with an unarmed attack, and that character has Cushion, you take Cushion Return damage equal to the Cushion amount, or the damage you dealt, whichever is lower. Actions During a combat Round, every character may take Actions on their Turn. Although a character’s Stance can limit what kind of Actions they may take, in general, a character may take one of the two following options: * One Complex Action + Free Actions * Two Simple Actions + Free Actions Free Actions are minor activities that do not disrupt a character’s ability to perform other tasks during the course of their Turn. Unless otherwise specified, a character may only perform each Free Action a maximum of once per Round. Simple Actions are more complicated tasks that require more of a character’s attention, but not so much that he is not capable of taking more than one action at a time. Complex Actions are elaborate or time-consuming efforts that require all of a character’s attention in order to complete. Movement Since battlefields are commonly filled with obstacles, affected by weather conditions, lighting, and other characters fighting, having a constant movement speed for a character is unrealistic. The game operates in three very loose terms of range that is always up to Game Master fiat: * Close Range. Everything that happens within 0-5 meters. * Medium Range. Everything that happens from 5 to 10 meters. * Long Range. Everything that happens from 10 to 20 meters. Thus, to traverse these ranges, the game offers three different Move Actions a character may take. They use up an action, as described above, so choose carefully. * Close Move Action (Free) ** A tactical sidestep in that takes an instant to do. ** Your Water Link meters. * Medium Move Action (Simple) ** You dash out of, or into, melee; or maybe you charge an enemy. ** Your Water Link multiplied by two meters. * Long Move Action (Complex) ** You traverse the entire drawbridge to ram the gate. ** Your Water Link multiplied by four meters. Movement is modified by the type of terrain where characters are located. It is far easier to run down a city street, for instance, than a rocky beach. It is ultimately up to the Game Master to determine what level of terrain any particular area falls under. Terrain types and the movement penalties they incur include: * Basic: City streets, plains, sparse forest, etc. A character has no movement penalties in basic terrain. * Moderate: Thick underbrush, rocky foothills, soggy terrain, etc. Movement increases one level of complexity. Free becomes Simple, Simple becomes Complex, and the Complex Move Action is impossible. * Difficult: Mountainside, wild jungle forest, hip-deep water, etc. Movement increases two levels of complexity. Free becomes Complex. Simple and Complex Move Actions are impossible. GMs may optionally choose to assign penalties to physical rolls (both Skill and Trait rolls) made in Difficult terrain, typically a –5 or –10 to the roll, if it seems appropriate. Off-hand Weapons & Multiple Attacks Many players are interested in having their characters use two weapons simultaneously. This is not particularly common practice. A character’s handedness is determined by the player. A character that wishes to attack with their off-hand can do so as a Complex Action. But since it isn't their primary hand it costs one raise to do so. If a character performs the Extra Attack Maneuver, with their main hand, and designates their off-hand as their secondary attack, performing the Extra Attack cost 1 less Raise. Also, the off-hand weapon determines the Extra Attack Maneuver's cost of Raises. So, if a character wields a Medium weapon in their main hand and a Small weapon iin their off-hand, they would need to make 3 Raises to perform the Extra Attack Maneuver. Ranged Attack The most common way to perform a ranged attack is with a bow. Although not the most common method of fighting, since it is impossible to use bows in the mist, and the most basic air spell thwarts ranged attacks, there are certain circumstances where it is useful. Hunting is a good example. A ranged attack with a bow requires a Complex Action. Pulling an arrow from its cocker is a Free Action. This means, that most movement is rather restricted while using a bow. If you perform the Multishot Maneuver you can shoot off more than one arrow with one attack. Bows can shoot twice the range of the Long Range increment, or in broad terms, 20-40 meters, without penalties. If you wish to increase the range by an increment you simply need to perform the Farshot Maneuver. Bows maximum range is 180 meters. An opponent who is attacked in Close Range with a bow has +10 ATN. To throw a weapon you should use the Throw Maneuver. Opponents who are attacked by a thrown weapon in Close Range has no bonus to their ATN. Hit Points and Wound Ranks All characters have Wound Ranks that describe the condition the character is in, and Hit Points which dictates how powerful each Wound Rank is. When a character receives damage the number it is subtracted from the Hit Points in the Wound Ranks. The resilience of each Wound Rank is determined by Advantages, Techniques, Spells and most importantly, a character's Earth Link. As soon as a character suffers damage that begins to deplete a particular Wound Rank, the character is then considered to be in the state described by that Rank. Once that Rank has been depleted, additional damage goes to the next Rank. The ranks are as follows: Crippled, not Dead If a Player Character is about to die from losing all hisHit Points he may instead declare that he wants a limb to be disabled instead. It is the GMs choice which limb becomes disabled. A player can do this once every combat. Healing When a character is wounded, the magnitude of damage is crucial. For game purposes, three classifications of Injuries are recognized – light, moderate, and heavy Injuries – based on what Wound Rank he left the combat with. A Character ending combat on the Healthy or Bloodied Wound Rank counts as Lightly Injured. And recovers a number of Hit Points equal to four times his Stamina Trait, if he has a full day of rest. Moving around while Lightly Injured reduces the amount of Hit Points recovered, from four times the characters Stamina Trait to two times his Stamina Trait. Being on the Injured or Crippled Wound Rank when combat ends are considered Moderately Injured and recovers a number of Hit Points equal to twice his Stamina Trait when resting for a full day. If a character is physical active, he recovers only his Stamina Trait in Hit Points each day. Finally, a character that ends combat on the Out or Down Wound Rank is considered Heavily Injured and recovers only his Stamina Trait in Hit Points each day he rests. A Character that moves around while this heavily Injured recovers no Hit Points at all. At the end of a rest, if a character is going from one level of Injury to another, the amount of Hit Points he recovers changes to the new state. It is possible to increase this amount, or to recover additional amounts, through treatment via certain Skills, Items or Spells. Ambush & Other Surprises Under certain circumstances, it is possible for one group of combatants to surprise another. If the GM rules that one group is unaware of another’s presence, the hidden group may attempt to make a surprise attack. They make a Contested Stealth (Ambush) / Agility roll opposed by the unaware group’s Investigation (Notice) / Perception before the first Stage of the combat begins. This roll may either use the Cumulative Skill Rolls rule or, if the GM prefers, be made by the group leader. * If the ambushing party wins they get a bonus to the first Initiative roll equal to the difference in the Contested roll. * If the ambushing party wins with more than +20 on their roll, they get to act for a whole round before regular combat begins. * If the ambushing party loses, then nothing happens and regular combat begins. Falling Other than combat, the most common environmental risks of damage a character faces are from falling. Falls of less than about 3 meters will typically not inflict meaningful damage, although the GM can use discretion for unusual circumstances (such as falling onto sharp rocks). Falls from higher than 3 meters causes increasingly more and more damage. * 3 meters - 1k1 * 6 meters - 3K3 * 9 meters - 6K6 * 12 meters - 12K12 * 15 meters - 24k24 etc. Swimming and Drowning A character can swim in calm water for a number of minutes equal to Earth x 10. Earth x 5 if a character is wearing Light Armor. Earth x 2 if a character is wearing Heavy Armor. After that period characters require an Athletics(Swimming)/Strength at TN 10 each minute to stay afloat. This TN is 15 if the character is wearing Light Armor, and 20 if the character is wearing Heavy Armor. The GM may increase this TN to reflect difficult circumstances such as a storm-tossed sea. Once the character fails the roll, he can hold his breath for a number of Rounds equal to his Stamina, during which time he can continue trying to make the Athletics roll to resume swimming. If he is still underwater when his Stamina runs out, he begins drowning, taking 2k2 points of damage per Round. A drowning character is helpless and cannot take any Actions until rescued. Holding Your Breath and Suffocation A character can hold his breath for a number of Rounds equal to his Stamina x 10 if he takes no Actions. If a character only takes Simple Actions, he may hold his breath for a number of Rounds equal to his Stamina x 5. If he wants to hold his breath, with no restrain to any actions, can hold his breath a number of Rounds equal to his Stamina x 1. Note, characters who hold their breath, cannot speak and cannot cast any Air spells.